It was impossible to know the age of most of the adult Visiting Cats; obviously you could guess based on appearance, teeth, etc but you could never be sure.

So it was inevitable that there would be a few who, like The Cat (featured in the header photo), felt the effects of their advancing years.

Saturday was a mature alpha-male when he arrived. He continued to visit for a couple of years or more, and was The Cat’s companion for some time. We could tell he was getting old from his appearance and the attitude of the younger male cats to him, as his grip on the neighbourhood diminished. He must have felt safe in The Cat’s garden as it seemed to be one of his regular places for daytime naps.

Sniffly Cat was also mature when she started to visit. She came from another garden across the fields where cats were fed, and probably visited for the same amount of time as Saturday. As she became older, she became more and more sniffly – maybe she carried a virus which resurfaced every now and again.

Then there was Sunday. He had one of the longest reigns as an alpha-male, first coming to the garden when Ana was resident (and Sunday was known as Mr Grey or The Evil Grey). A year or two later he disappeared (returning around four years after he first appeared) as Sunday, a mature, aging gentleman who was less interested in fighting and more interested in eating and sleeping. Like Saturday, he liked to nap in the garden; he must have felt secure enough to relax there.

And of course there was Kiwi, one of the longest-lasting Visiting Cats. She was a CH cat and was undernourished and weak when Dinky guided her to the garden, but she regained her strength and lived a long and happy life, very much on her terms. She was strong-willed and definitely not a cat to be argued with, as you could guarantee that the humans would never win.

Sad though it was to see cats declining with age, it was the price paid for a long and full life. They had survived kittenhood, they had grown up as self-sufficient feral cats, survived illnesses and accidents, cold winters and roasting summers, and they deserved the easier life with the food and water and shelter from the elements which The Cat’s garden and drive offered.